Peter Friedman

Undercurrent (Kenny Drew) is a terrific album. Probably because he spent so many years in Europe, Drew seems to have been overlooked when top level jazz piano players are discussed. Kenny Drew has a large number of recordings available under his own name, but the vast majority are not on American labels. He has many recordings on Steeplechase, and many on the Japanese Alfa and Baystate labels. I have most of them and enjoy them all immensely. I was in strong agreement with Dan Gould when discussing Joe Zawinul recently on another thread. However when it comes to the Bill Evans/Jim Hall recording Dan and I part ways. While 180 degrees different in style from the Kenny Drew session, the Evans/Hall is simply a great recording. As has been said, it is introspective, but filled with beautiful playing by both artists. There are lots wonderful cooking hard bop sessions out there, and I love an awful lot of them. But the number of low key jazz recordings played with great depth of feeling that results in classic beauty of very high quality is much less common.

Don't forget the jazz album that Frankie Laine made. It was reissued on CD Frankie Laine, Buck Clayton - Jazz Spectacular - Columbia CK 65507

Well, ya' know, some people's choices make other people uncomfortable because daring to dream, much less acting on the dream, scares the shit out of them... Jim, That may be true for some, but I find it to be a gross overgeneralization. I can only speak for myself, but it has nothing to do with being scared. Any musician certainly has the right to go in any direction that they choose. However, my concern is for the music to speak to me. If it does, I am pleased and continue to give it my listening time. If the music is not to my taste, then it will no longer get much, if any, attention from me. I don't begrudge Joe the right to go in a direction different from what I like. But I so very much enjoyed some of his playing with Cannonball and Ben Webster that I had hoped to hear much more of that playing I dug so much. It was disappointing to me that he never made a swinging trio album with perhaps the Cannonball rhythm section. However once Zawinul moved in a different direction I gave my attention to others that were far more to my personal taste. The only reason this diverse commentary has taken place is because it looked as if Joe was being disrespectful to Barry Harris (One of my alltime favorites) as well as to others who played in a style he no longer chose to pursue. A number of posts came to Joe's defense by, in a number of cases, suggesting that Joe was a marvelous innovator who made important contributions to the music. I don't happen to see him in that light, but hey, different strokes...

I find Zawinul's statement regarding Barry Harris to be both arrogant and insulting. If he didn't mean it to be insulting, he should have thought about the way he said it prior to putting his mouth in gear. I agree with Dan Gould. The only playing I have heard from Zawinul that spoke to me was his playing on some of Cannonball's albums, and the one session with Ben Webster. At that time I was expecting to hear a lot more music I liked from Joe. Unfortunately (in my view), he decided to go in a different direction that did not appeal to me.

I have two Japanese Sonny Clark Trio CDs that have all this material plus the three alternate tracks from the American Sony Clark Trio CD (RVG) . Blues In The Night - TOCJ-1618 The 45 Sessions - TOCJ-1617

One of the things that I find especially interesting in threads such as this is how the age of the listener is so significant. People of my age - I am old!!!! - who were serious jazz fans did not have to make these kind of decisions. When each Horace Silver was initially released I would automatically buy it. So my Horace Silver collection just evolved naturally over time. As Horace was a favorite of mine it was sensible to acquire each of his recordings in chronological order as they became available. That is in fact the way I acquired most of my jazz collection from the 50's, 60's and 70's on up to the present. Of course financial considerations meant I couldn't get everything, but when it came to the musicians I liked the most, I did my best to get a copy as soon as possible after it was issued.

I have these two CDs with Jan Johansson as leader: 8 Bitar / Innertrio - Heptagon 186 & Arne Domnerus - Younger Than Springtime - Dragon 005 I have many other where Jan Johansson is a sideman.

I have three Stefano Bollaini Trio CDs on Venus. Black And Tan Fantasy Falando De Amor Ma L'Amore No

I recommend 4 Bud Freeman CDs on the Chronogical Classics label. 1928-1938 - Classics 781 1939-1940 - Classics 811 1945-1946 - Classics 942 1946 - Classics 975 He also has some fine solos on a large variety of recordings with Eddie Condon and other members of the Chicago School.

You need all of these or you will be missing a large dose of wonderful music. I would agree with those who suggested you start with H.S and The Jazz Messengers.

I have owned a set of Paradigm Reference Studio/20 speakers for about 6 years. They are excellent. Before I purchased them I listened to a number of other speakers in the same price range and the Paradigm's were definitely the ones I preferred. I later discovered that the speakers that I bought have received great reviews from a variety of audiophile publications.

I have a 2 CD set that includes ALL the material you listed from this session not on THE MAN I LOVE - BLACK LION BLCD 760107. It is JOHNNY GRIFFIN - HUSH-A-BYE - BLACK LION TKCB-70856 (Japanese) This 2 CD set has a total of 15 tracks and includes duplicates of 5 of the 6 tracks on THE MAN I LOVE cd. The only track on THE MAN I LOVE cd that is not on the 2 CD set is "The Masquerade Is Over". The track you are missing - "You Leave Me Breathless" - is on the 2 cd set.

If you like Hank Jones, then you should very much enjoy the playing of pianists Tommy Flanagan and Kenny Barron. In many ways they are both stylistically similar to Hank Jones. A few tenor players that share some of the qualities I find in the playing of Hank Mobley might be Harold Land (his early pre-Coltrane influenced recordings), Junior Cook, and Tina Brooks.

I generally like almost all of Lee Morgan's recordings, but do get the sense that he seemed more comfortable playing Hard Bop. There is a crackling excitement filled with energy that I hear in his '50's sessions. As he moves into the mid-60's the spark doesn't seem to be as bright for me. Not that he plays poorly, far from it, but the excitement of the young Lee Morgan strikes me as a bit more tempered as time moved on. A session such as "Peckin' Time" on Blue Note with Hank Mobley and Wynton Kelly would be a fine example of an ultra fine hard bop recording where Lee Morgan is in a truly comfortable groove that fits him perfectly.

There are a very large number of worthwhile re-issues to get on both Lone Hill and especially Fresh Sound. Here are just a few that have not been mentioned that I can quickly suggest. Lone Hill Dave Bailey Quintet/Sextet - The Complete 1 & 2 Feet In The Gutter Sessions Budd Johnson - The Stanley Dance Sessions Fresh Sound The John Williams Trio - Complete master Takes 1954-1955 Roy Brooks - Beat (with Blue Mitchell & junior Cook) The Pepper/Knepper Quintet (with Pepper Adams & Jimmy Knepper)

There have been a lot of favorable comments about the Horace Parlan recordings on Blue Note/ Mosaic. If you enjoy Parlan's playing be sure to check out his many CDs on Steeplechase. There are 9 of them and they are all very very good.

I agree with Stereojack. It's a good session, though there are better Blakey recordings. One additional point about the " Buttercorn Lady" date is that the piano player is Keith Jarrett before he became a prominent well known leader and solo performer.

Most of the Shorty Rogers RCA albums are very good as are all his Atlantic recordings. The out of print Mosaic set of all Shorty's Atlantic material is a gem. Also well worth getting are the two much later Shorty Rogers CDs on Candid which include many of the west coast luminaries such as Bud Shank, Bob Cooper, Bill Perkins, Pete Jolly and Conte Candoli. Shorty Rogers/Bud Shank & The Lighthouse All Stars - America The Beautiful - Candid 79510 Shorty Rogers/Bud Shank & The Lighthouse All Stars - Eight Brothers - Candid 79521

Wonder if you are referring to this one? Zoot Sims Quartet - Live At Ronnie Scott's '61 It was originally on Fontana and I have a CD reissue on Fresh Sound.

So is this available on cd? I used to own it on Lp but have never seen a cd. Yes, I have a Japanese CD released on the Liberty label.

My definite preference is for "Walks". One reason is the presence of pianist Carl Perkins, who died young and is therefore on a very limited number of recordings. Carl Perkins playing almost always was something very special.

Other than "Blues And The Abstract Truth" (not sure I would call this a small group album?), my favorite Oliver Nelson small group album is: MEET OLIVER NELSON on Prestige/New Jazz with great playing by Oliver, Kenny Dorham & Ray Bryant. If you don't know this one I suggest you check it out.

I once had the Zoot Sims "Waiting Game" LP on Impulse. I thought it was the least interesting album by Zoot I ever heard. I disposed of it.

One of the last recordings Pete Jolly made was a duo piano recording on Fresh Sound with the excellent Swedish pianist Jan Lundgren. It is titled COLLABORATION, and has Chuck Berghofer and Joe Labarbera on bass and drums. It's a marvelous CD.